APUSH Unit 1

Bering Strait

Archaeologists assumed that Siberians crossed this land bridge to Alaska during the Ice Age

Mayan

Accurate calendar; collapsed due to overexploitation of rainforests, overpopulation, and civil wars

Aztec

Between 5 and 20 million people, NW Mesoamerica, Tenochtitlan, capital contained a great temple and a thriving central market

Incan

Located in Andes Mountains, autocratic government, also known as Quechuas

Mississippian

Resembled Mayan and Aztec culture, agricultural towns with plazas, temple mounds, worship of the sun

Adena-Hopewell

Northeast, burial mounds, elaborate trade network, Ohio River Valley, division of labor

Pueblo-Hohokam

Irrigation, adobe pueblos, lacked class structure, declined due to drought and arrival of aggressive groups

Ferdinand and Isabella

Financed Columbus's expedition, King and queen of Spain, drove Muslims and Jews out of Spain

Christopher Columbus

Planned to reach the Indies across the Atlantic, reached San Salvador (Bahamas), Cuba, Hispaniola, Lesser Antilles, Jamaica

John Cabot

Italian, first to sight North American continent, discovered Northwest passage

Columbian exchange

Exchange of animals, plants, crops, diseases, and ideas between the Old World and New World

Vasco Nunez de Balboa

Spanish, first European to see Pacific, through Panama, 1513

Ferdinand Magellan

Portuguese, hired by Spanish, discovered strait at Southern tip of South America, Guam, and the Philippines, killed by natives

Conquistadors

Spanish soldiers and explorers who led military expeditions in the Americas and captured land for Spain

Hernan Cortes

Set sail from Cuba with natives, horses, and cannons to invade the Aztecs; took gold by tricking Montezuma

Francisco Pizzaro

Led soldiers from Panama to Peru to attack Incas

Encomienda

System in which Spanish officials became landowners who controlled Indian villages to support missionaries in return for goods and labor from the natives

Bartolome de las Casas

Priest from Hispaniola, author of A Brief Relation of the Destruction of the Indies, defended the natives and that Spanish treated them unjustly

Black Legend

European opinion that the Spanish were mistreating natives

Juan Ponce de Leon

Discovered Florida from Puerto Rico in 1513

Hernando de Soto

Landed on Florida's west coast and explored around Mississippi River

Francisco Vasquez de Coronado

Traveled northward from Mexico in search of gold in the NM, TX, OK area

Juan de Onate

Took possession of New Mexico with a patent and force in 1598

Pueblo Revolt of 1680

Greatest setback on Europeans, caused by natives who burned down churches and other relics

John Calvin

French theologian, insisted on hard work to serve God

Elizabeth I

"The Virgin Queen," ruled over England's Golden Age, Church of England became Protestant, courageous and powerful

Jacques Cartier

French explorer, 3 voyages, discovered Quebec and Montreal areas

Samuel de Champlain

"Father of New France," colonized Canada

Sir Francis Drake

English explorer and admiral who was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe and who helped to defeat the Spanish Armada

Sea Dogs

English sea captains authorized to raid Spanish ships and towns

Defeat of Spanish Armada (1588)

England had smaller and faster vessels, marked beginning of English naval supremacy, climax of Elizabeth's reign

Sir Walter Raleigh

English, sailed to and founded Roanoke Island

Roanoke

"The Lost Colony," governor returned to England for supplies and was delayed because of war; settlement was abandoned upon return